Trade is the most basic of human activities outside the family: I have something that you want, and you have something that I want. We each know how MUCH we want, so voluntarily, and without any real coercion (unless the scent of that fried okra is overwhelming us and we haven’t eaten all day!) on the part of either party, we trade amount X of Item A for amount Y of item B, and both walk away, if not “happy” then satisfied that we got the best. The world can (and did) go around with this sort of thing happening millions of times a day. Then, we allowed princes and patriarchs and police and priests and pimps to get involved, and suddenly there was no “free trade” except as an ideal. We had rules and regulations and licenses and permits and taxes and fees and (Lord love a duck) mandatory standards and inspections and law suits and prosecutions and arbitrators and mediators and mitigators… What a mess! Here are a couple of stories to show just how messed up it has become, in the last days of 2013.

The “messiah” – International Trade (2 stories) Obama Allows Great Lakes Water To Be Sold To China As Half The U.S. Faces Extreme Water CrisisRead More : (Conservative Action Alerts)

Nathan Allows? ALLOWS? This is derided as something evil, as if the man who claims to be the President of the United States has ANY power granted by ANYONE to prohibit China (or anyone else) from buying water from the Great Lakes or anyplace else. Who makes these sorts of calls? it is NOT legitimately government: it is a decision made by a voluntary seller and a voluntary buyer. Which brings us to the NEXT story:

Obama Is Allowing Chicken From ChinaRead More (Conbustible/Constituent News) At the end of August, the Obama administration quietly decided to start allowing Chinese poultry processors to ship processed chicken into the United States.

Nathan: Hmm. Does this have ANYTHING to do with the new FDA report that states that (GASP!!) 78% of processed chicken in this country has BACTERIA? You mean, bacteria like on our sink tops and on our hands and on the floor and the ground and everything else in the Country??? I am surprised that this story can even be published – after all, relating the “messiah” to CHICKEN must be racist. And what about Congress? Do they have any reason to be cited for this?

Mama’s Note: As usual, these things make no sense at all. First, I can’t see why China would buy water from the Great Lakes. It’s been polluted for decades, to start with, and the transport costs would be insane. I can’t imagine them wanting it even if it were given to them. As for the chicken, and so much else in the food news, this is just stupid fear mongering. The real problem is two fold: Far too many people have allowed their immune systems to languish or nearly die, antibiotic use and poor diet/lifestyle being the major causes. Second, far too few people have any common sense and can’t seem to bother to learn how to properly handle and cook much of anything. The bacteria on chicken, or in ground beef, is not any more a problem than it ever was, and in many cases far less. It’s just that nobody understands the situation and they are sure that “big brother” can and must rescue them from their ignorance and sloth.

Theft by government
Lessons from Dutch Welfare ReformRead More (Conservative Action Alerts)

Nathan: In a nutshell: Do NOT DO IT. Welfare, I mean, not “reform.” Evil cannot be reformed, it can only be ended. The Dutch are trying more than Americans are, to limit the evil, but are still not successful in making it a hand-up instead of a hand-out. Emergency assistance instead of “entitlement?” Why, because a national bureaucracy cannot successfully determine who really is in need and not just lazy, and is using STOLEN money to care for them – needy AND lazy. Sadly, “conservatives” just do not get it: government cannot take care of the needy without creating bureaucracies, corruption, and welfare dependence which destroys families and communities. Benevolence MUST be done voluntarily by individuals and SMALL local organizations (churches, community chest, etc.) – even national organizations (Red Cross, Church Aid, etc.) are likely to fail in the same way as government.

Nathan: I did not comment on the first judge who declared the NSA program unconstitutional, because of all the fawning that I saw libertarian and conservative AND liberal commentators do. We rightfully condemn the judicial black robes for most of their decisions, based on the most ridiculous of reasons. Should we fall over ourselves patting them on the back when once in a great while they make a decision which (on the surface) seems to be right? The old saying is that “a stopped clock is right twice a day,” but we know that defective clocks are virtually never right, and having the right time on a purely random basis is far far worse than being stopped. It is not much different than applauding those rare times when the electorate is willing to (and allowed) to chose a worthy man or woman for public office: it does not mean that reform has been or will be done, or that we can trust the new government officials a gram more than the old ones: government is still broken and not going to change. The solution for NSA and all the other alphabet soup agencies is NOT “reform” and NOT “court orders” – it is to drive a stake into the heart, followed by smashing each individual little piece until there is nothing but slime for the rain to wash away.

Mama’s Note: Ooooh, I really like that mental image. I’ll take a garden hose and help the rain wash the slime away.

Culture wars – Islamic war
Leader: Christianity Threatened in Middle East
(Vision to America) “I have for some time now been deeply troubled by the growing difficulties faced by Christian communities in various parts of the Middle East. It seems to me that we cannot ignore the fact that Christians in the Middle East are increasingly being deliberately targeted by fundamentalist Islamist militants. Christianity was literally born in the Middle East and we must not forget our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Nathan: I am positive that Scotland Yard must be on this, and are just trying to keep it a secret before panic sets in. And I’m sure Interpol is cooperating, although the FBI is surely NOT aiding them any. But I want to know HOW they put this ringer in for Charles Windsor! I suppose it could be brainwashing, because admittedly those ears have got to be hard to replicate, but there is no way at all that the Tranzi Prince of Wales we so well know and dearly hate could say anything like this except tongue-in-cheek. They obviously kidnapped the real one and substituted some poorly-trained Lorenzo Smythe for him.

“The greatest Glory of a free-born People, Is to transmit that Freedom to their Children.” — William Havard

Amen! While I think that a number of us have succeeded in this as individuals, we have clearly, as a nation and as the Anglo-American people, FAILED. May God have mercy on us.

Mama’s Note: While not perfectly freedom oriented, “The Tragedy of American Compassion” is a good overview of the history of charity and “welfare” in America, and has some good ideas for returning charity to its original form and purpose.

[I have changed formatting some what in this column, please let me know if this is better or worse than the standard way.]